Summary (Ch 14-21)
Greg receives his PSAT score and scores a good grade on it. He believes that he might be able to receive a basketball scholarship if he continues to work hard and do good on the actually SAT.Greg's temper and attitude ends up causing problems as he almost hits one of his teachers.He almost ends up getting suspended but his friends end up supporting him and Greg gets a away with his recent tantrum.The next game of the season is against Carver which is Ice's team and Greg's old school. He ends up having to guard Ice. In a back and forth battle between Ice and Greg, Greg's school ends up winning the game. Following the win Greg and Ice go to a party and Greg see's ice deal some drugs to some girls. Greg again confronts Ice then Ice gets angry and starts a fight with Greg.
What happens between Ice and Greg?
Thats something for you to find out!
Analytical Paragraph
One of Greg's main problems is that he has a bad attitude. Greg is a dynamic character as he ends up cleaning up his attitude and deals with his anger issues.At the beginning of the novel he was undisciplined and bad mannered.Going through different experiences with different people Greg learns how to deal with his problems and fix his attitude.He becomes Not only has he fixed his life he now tries to help others to straighten up their lives. He tries to help Ice get out of the drug dealing and helps his teammates become better basketball players.
Interactive Response
I was sort of disappointed by the ending of this novel as I wanted to see if Greg's team wins the city championship and if he makes the NBA.Walter Dean Myers does a good job incorporating real life problems with basketball.The plot may be a little dry but it still has some interesting moments which makes you not want to put it down. I would recommend this novel to people who love basketball as Walter Dean Myers does a fantastic job describing the game of basketball through Greg's play.Overall this book is good but it isn't as exciting as some of the other books I've read.
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Slam! - Entry 2
Summary (Ch 7-14)
The basketball season continues and Greg is still not a starter despite carrying his team to victories in there previous two games.The assistant coach tells Greg that his bad attitude is whats keeping him from being a starter.Also, Greg is informed that if he doesn't improve his grades he might get kicked off the team. Again they end up winning the game thanks to Greg but Greg still hasn't fixed his attitude.Tension begins to grow within due to Greg attitude and the team gets involved in a couple fights.Greg gets confronted by one of his teammates about his attitude and tries to tell Greg to straighten up.After winning there next game it was time for Greg to hit the books to try and improve his grades. With some help from his crush Mtisha, Greg tries to catch up with math and study for an upcoming PSAT. The team ends up losing there next game and the team was very down over the loss.Greg goes to Ice's house but Ice isn't there. He ends up finding Ice at a park and asks him how he got all the money and nice things all of a sudden. They end up seeing a guy who is having a heart attack then Ice starts giving money to people to help the man having a heart attack.Following the whole heart attack incident Greg tells Ice that he suspects that Ice is involved in drug dealing and that he is very concerned for Ice.
Analytical Paragraph
The main theme of this novel is about trying to deal with challenges in life.
Greg has a dream of making it into the NBA but Greg knows it will be a hard road to get there as he is struggling with many things.Greg has to try to improve his grades and attitude while having to deal with problems with his family and close friend Ice.He knows he has to balance all these problems if he wants to have a chance to make it into the NBA.He might be getting help with his grades but dealing with his temper and attitude will be something he has to do alone.If he doesn't fix his attitude he could kiss his NBA dream goodbye.
Interactive Response
Walter Dean Myers does a good job of bringing up all the challenges that Greg has to face.It all ties in smoothly with Greg's basketball life and his dream of making it into the NBA.The conflict in the story isn't as interesting as other books I've read but it is definitely different.The style of writing that Walter Dean Myers uses is probably what makes me want to continue to read this book.The language is very similar to how many teenagers talk and that makes it easier to relate to.
The basketball season continues and Greg is still not a starter despite carrying his team to victories in there previous two games.The assistant coach tells Greg that his bad attitude is whats keeping him from being a starter.Also, Greg is informed that if he doesn't improve his grades he might get kicked off the team. Again they end up winning the game thanks to Greg but Greg still hasn't fixed his attitude.Tension begins to grow within due to Greg attitude and the team gets involved in a couple fights.Greg gets confronted by one of his teammates about his attitude and tries to tell Greg to straighten up.After winning there next game it was time for Greg to hit the books to try and improve his grades. With some help from his crush Mtisha, Greg tries to catch up with math and study for an upcoming PSAT. The team ends up losing there next game and the team was very down over the loss.Greg goes to Ice's house but Ice isn't there. He ends up finding Ice at a park and asks him how he got all the money and nice things all of a sudden. They end up seeing a guy who is having a heart attack then Ice starts giving money to people to help the man having a heart attack.Following the whole heart attack incident Greg tells Ice that he suspects that Ice is involved in drug dealing and that he is very concerned for Ice.
Analytical Paragraph
The main theme of this novel is about trying to deal with challenges in life.
Greg has a dream of making it into the NBA but Greg knows it will be a hard road to get there as he is struggling with many things.Greg has to try to improve his grades and attitude while having to deal with problems with his family and close friend Ice.He knows he has to balance all these problems if he wants to have a chance to make it into the NBA.He might be getting help with his grades but dealing with his temper and attitude will be something he has to do alone.If he doesn't fix his attitude he could kiss his NBA dream goodbye.
Interactive Response
Walter Dean Myers does a good job of bringing up all the challenges that Greg has to face.It all ties in smoothly with Greg's basketball life and his dream of making it into the NBA.The conflict in the story isn't as interesting as other books I've read but it is definitely different.The style of writing that Walter Dean Myers uses is probably what makes me want to continue to read this book.The language is very similar to how many teenagers talk and that makes it easier to relate to.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Slam! - Entry 1
Summary (Ch. 1-7)
Analytical Paragraph
The novel Slam!, follows a high school student named Greg who tries to deal with multiple problems in his life.Problems which involve school, his family,and girls end up messing with his dream of making it to the NBA. Greg, who is also known as "Slam" (named Slam for his great dunking ability) is a fantastic basketball player and he knows it.He recently transferred to a new school where he is trying to fit in and catch up with everyone in schoolwork.Greg's poor grades are interfering with his basketball life and that gets his family involved. His family has problems of their own as Greg's grandmother has become seriously ill and has to stay in the hospital.Greg and his brother Derek visit their grandmother everyday to see how she is doing.Struggling with his family and school Greg looks to basketball to free himself from all the problems.
Greg is confident that he could make his new school basketball team but unfortunately his school is on a streak of five straight losing seasons.At the tryouts his arrogance leads into him playing 1on1 basketball against his coach.Greg ends up completely humiliating the coach and shows his teammates that he is the best player in the school.At his old school, Carver, Greg and his best friend, Ice, were the two main players on there basketball team. Greg and Ice knew each other very well and would call each other brothers.Greg ends up learning from his crush Mtisha that Ice could be into drug dealing and this worries both Mtisha and Greg as they don't want anything bad to happen to Ice.The first game of the season and Greg learns that he won't be starting.His team ends up trailing at half time but then turn it around as Greg enters the game. Greg's popularity begins to grow as he shines on the basketball court.He carries his team to victory and ends up celebrating after the game with Ice and it seems to be more obvious that Ice is indeed dealing drugs as suddenly he is driving a nice car. Greg's school and basketball life start to improve but his sick grandmother and girl problems begin to worsen.
Analytical Paragraph
This novel is written from the prospective of the protagonist Greg Harris. He is a 6 foot 4, talented basketball player with the dream of making it to the NBA. Greg's dream is at stake as he struggles with school while his family is dealing with a ill grandmother.Within his family he takes care of his brother and mother while having to deal with his drunken father.Despite all these problems, he doesn't let them interfere with his basketball play as he ends up being a star player on his new schools basketball team. When it comes to basketball he may be overconfident and hot headed but he is very talented . Off the court he is very friendly and loves to flirt with girls as it is his second hobby.
Interactive Response
So far this novel seems like a cliche sports fiction novel with a struggling talented athlete who struggles with life.It may be cliche but it is still very interesting to me. Although the conflict within the story has not really come forth the plot has been really good.Greg seems like a realistic character dealing with common real life problems.This story as a whole has been very realistic as Walter Dean Myers does a good job of giving a description of the setting and the characters which pop up.So far the book has been very interesting and makes me want to continue to read about Greg trying to juggle his love of basketball with all the struggles he has to go through.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)